Investment Q&A

Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.

Q: With regards to minimum holding periods. Would the following assumptions be reasonable:

XSB - 1 -2 years
XBB - 2 + years

Thanks,

Joe

Q: Long term bond prices rose during previous tapering periods (following 2014 QE for example). Given this, and the relative certainty tapering is coming soon, would now be a good time to add to one's long and short term bond holdings? If I'm incorrect, please explain why? Thank you, great service.

Q: I have 25K that was in a GIC, making basically nothing (or losing money when considering inflation). Can you recommend something that is likely to retain the principal and earn more in 2 years than the 1.5% 2-year GIC? Thank you.

Q: Hello, could you please provide some of your favourite ETF's to fill the fixed income portion of a portfolio?

What about cash?

Q: In my balanced cash account I hold CBH as the fixed income portion and while I thought the laddered approach would be beneficial, it has not performed well over the past years. After reading about Real Bond ETF's, I am wondering if I should replace my CBH with a real bond ETF (either XRB or ZRR) for the next few years. What do you think of that strategy? FYI, I also hold XBB in my RSP.

Q: Hi I have this etf in my account . Should i sell some and buy stocks or add some i am looking for dividend income.

Thank you

Q: Thanks for the great work in educating and helping us. Currently I have no exposure to Debt and all Investment is in Equity Stock or Pref. I was trying to use Preference shares as a proxy for Bond. Is that a wise strategy? Want to move some fund to Bonds/Debentures. With a long term view of 10 + years in a registered account can you recommend 2 bonds and 2 ETFs. Thanks

Q: The fixed income portion of our portfolio includes XBB@15% and ZIC at 6%. Portfolio analytics is suggesting fixed income assets @40%. I am not keen on adding more bonds and would be comfortable at 30% in FI. Can you suggest 1-2 alternatives for someone entering retirement?

Q: Please recommend 4 index etf's Canadian for my TFSA and 4 US for my RRSP. If you recommend Bonds make it number 5 Looking at 15-20 year DRIP and hold.
Thanks
Cec

Q: Within my fixed income allotment I've recently favored short term bonds over long term bonds on the advice that they will react less to changes in interest rates. However, since the Fed's meeting last week the opposite has occurred, as there has been a flight from short term bonds into long term bonds. Can you please explain why this is the case and then, given the current environment could you also rank the above ETF's in order of preference. If there are better fixed income suggestions please indicate. Thanks.

Q: Hello,
I am nearing retirement. I have CBO, CPD, VAB and XHY at 20% of my fixed income portfolio. All these ETF's exist in my unregistered account. I wanted to add XBB in my RRSP account. Any concerns about too much overlap by adding this position? This will add 7% to my fixed income position. Portfolio analytics recommends a 30% position.

Thanks for all your help.

Q: Good morning,

Two general questions:

1. I am fortunate in that I have now maxed out my TFSA contribution. Could you give me an idea of what sort of investments I should have in a TFSA vs. a cash account? 

2. According to portfolio analytics I am underweight in Fixed Equity. Underweight, in that I have none. Could you give some direction as to what to include for the fixed equity portion of a portfolio and provide some suggestions. 

Thank you for your help!

Q: Hello, when looking at investing in fixed income ETFs, such as XBB and ZCS, is the yield-to-maturity number more important than the current distribution yield (after looking at duration)? Thanks.

Q: In my RRSP I would like to take a long term, very low maintenance approach. For this reason I have it all in index funds. I have a 30 plus year time horizon. Which funds would you recommend here? I currently have $60,000 invested in VFV, VUN, VGRO and XAW. Looking to front load these with $2000/ mo for the next 3 years and then stop contributing as I will be "semi-retiring." I'm 29 for context

Q: I am one that is not very fond of Bonds and with their present performance I have decided to sell ETF XBB .
What would be a best ETF as an alternative to XBB in a RRIF account over a five year time frame?

Q: Is there a set/portfolio of ETFs you would recommend for a medium risk investor to ”set and forget” forever? What % allocation would you attribute to each? Timeframe would be for 25+ years.

Q: As a follow up to my question on fixed income, would you suggest I hold both XBB and CBO or pick one and if so, which one please? Similarly, hold both SHY and TLT or choose one and which one?

Thanks.

Q: Can you comment on the makeup and duration of the bonds in this ETF? Is it comparable to XBB.

Q: I've been working with your Portfolio Tracking tool, which is absolutely great, and it's telling me I should hold more bonds. Okay, that's clear enough, but what I'm unclear about is the number of Bonds (ETFs) I should hold. I know it's not really your thing, but is there a recommended bond portfolio you would recommend (for someone about to retire)? Also how important is it to hold international bonds VS only Canadian ETFs? Any advice is truly appreciated. Thanks as always for all your great work!